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Referendum design work advances: schematic designs, pool and science lab plans move forward
Summary
Design firm Bray and construction manager CG Schmidt presented schematic-design progress on Whitnall’s voter-approved referendum projects, including site surveys, benchmarking tours, pool sequencing, locker-room layouts and planned geotechnical borings.
Bray Architects and the district’s construction manager, CG Schmidt, presented a schematic-design update to the Whitnall School District Board on Feb. 10 as the district moves forward with voter-approved referendum projects.
Bray’s team said the design phase is split into schematic design, design development, and construction documents, with schematic-design work nearing completion and design development to follow. The team said it is producing design documents the district will review at the end of each phase and will issue a schematic-design package in the coming weeks.
Kate, Bray’s project lead for user engagement, said the team has conducted benchmarking tours (including district and out-of-district schools), multiple user-group meetings with teachers and staff and 3-D scanning of the four district buildings to verify existing conditions. She said community and staff input are guiding decisions on classroom adjacency, cafeteria and kitchen layouts, and site access for evening and weekend community use.
The consultants presented updated floor plans and said they are refining circulation, kindergarten adjacencies and restroom renovations across the four schools; the high school plans include a new pool, renovated locker rooms and expanded athletic support areas. Kate said the design team will provide specialized consultants for the pool, food service and science labs as the work progresses.
“We will be going to 6 locker rooms, so there’ll be 2 to support the pool, and then, a PE and a team locker room for both genders,” Kate said. “There’ll be individual showering, toileting, changing, to support that entire area.”
Bray said the district will issue a geotechnical-boring request for proposals and expects borings at high-school and Edgerton sites in the coming month to inform foundations and pavement design; the consultants cautioned borings can reduce but not eliminate unknowns under excavation, and that unsuitable soils remain a possible construction contingency.
The team said they will share early 3-D renderings as design development advances and plan a community progress update via the district’s Whitnall Window newsletter and website. They also said CG Schmidt will join the core planning team and participate in design reviews.
Board members asked about schedule sequencing for roofs and window replacement and whether some projects could be advanced earlier; consultants said those schedule priorities are under review with CG Schmidt and the district to balance early work with obtaining a full project budget.
No formal board action or vote was taken; staff and consultants will return with additional schematic- and design-development deliverables and a community update.
